Drawing layouts

I've just drawn up some basic HO Fleischmann Profi track sections, but I guess that's not much help.

Regards, Greg.P. NZ

It's probably something that it would be nice if the manufacturers provided. I've been building a nice library of 'components' for my business activities but hobby activities don't get the same support :(

Perhaps I should look at putting a library up if people have drawings to contribute?

There are a few model railway CAD programmes out there that have odd libraries of trackwork, Cadrail for example has (I think) Atlas, and I think Hornby does one for their products. Peco distributes a photocopy sheet of trackwork that you can cut out with scissors, photocopy and lay on your baseboard. ;-)

I'd be quite happy to contribute the Fleischmann Profi drawings.

BTW, I think it is quite important for the CAD drawings to be of the actual item of track, rather than the catalogue description, which isn't always accurate!

Regards, Greg.P. NZ

Personally I'm looking to work out how to machine the base boards so the 3d capability of TurboCAD will be useful.

I've got that - and I'm making my own ;)

Chuck them over ( email on the contact link below ) I'll have a look and see if we can come up with a useful 'standard' to generate these against. TurboCAD 3d models are probably overkill :)

Main reason I've taken to scanning the actual track. I will work from those when making my own library.

OK I've done a little more homework :)

I've used Hornby's Virtual Railway for rough working out of layouts.

Just the sort of useful stuff that gets lost ;) This package looks a little basic, but it is certainly a good start and I will actually have a go running it later.

Brian - is that HO gauge only? Difficult to find any detailed information on it even on the Hornby site, but at £15 it's probably worth just getting a copy anyway?

I do my layout planning with a program I wrote myself (1700 lines of Perl) which reads a plaintext description and outputs track plans at various scales, including full size with registration marks to allow me to trace onto the actual layout for accurate construction.

I had to construct a library of geometries of various track. I settled on Peco as a primary source of points and crossings, which seems to have been a good decision, and measured the distances and angles off the track planning sheet they supply.

From the same input file I have a bit more software to extract the topology and distances for use by the computer-controlled signalling system. That's what `segment' in the comments in the input file refers to - track blocks, the boundaries of junctions, and also the sense of the wiring polarity. I used m4 as a macro preprocessor.

Here's a fragment of the relevant input file:

# Conventionally, points' toes are c, the straight through is a # and the curve is b. Segments run from c towards a and b. # # Crossings (including slips) run `vertically' and have # tl, tr, bl, br. Segments run from b* to t*.

define(`def_point_ord',` dnl OBJNAME-EXCLUDING-PT-L ANGLE STRAIGHT-L CURVE-LONGER CURVE-DIVERGE-Y MIN-R defpart pt_$1l abs c 200 200 0 segment /P0 extend c a len $3 rel a b $4 -$5 $2 segment /P1 join c b $6 enddef def_thing_l_r(`pt_$1') ')

def_point_ord(`peco_s', 22.5, 87, -0.5, 17, 200) # not minr 230 ? def_point_ord(`peco_m', 14, 126.5,-1.55,13.21, 315) # not minr 457 ? def_point_ord(`peco_l', 8, 160, -0.4, 13.21, 914) # catalogue says 123.7 for STRAIGHT-L ?!

define(`def_slip2',` dnl OBJNAME-EXCLUDING-SLIP2 HALF-LEN HALF-ANG ... def_slip2(`shino', 114, 4.75) def_slip2(`pecof', 77, 5.00)

define(`def_scis',` dnl OBJNAME-EXCLUDING-SCIS HALF-LENGTH HALF-SPACING HALF-ANG MIN-R ... def_scis(`pecof', 135.42, 13.5, 10, 315) def_scis(`shino', 154, 13.5, 9.5, 315)

I don't expect this to be of much use to anyone else. The measurement figures may be of some interest if you can figure out what they mean. Everything is in mm and degrees, measured to the track centreline, and as I say this is N scale.

SNIP

Ian - I'd be interested since it looks like the geometry information especially as I'm playing peco N gauge ;)

Richard - I'll drop Templot in later. Nice to find non-US options ;)

I haven't used it for over 6 years, but AFAIK, it is 00 only, and I do not believe that it supports any track sections except for those supplied by Hornby (but flexitrack was not supported).

For doing your baseboards have a look at Google Sketchup. Apart from being free (always a plus!), this is surprisingly good 3d modelling package that can be used for quite a lot of "normal" CAD things. You have to throw any previous CAD experience out of the window, but when you get into the swing of it it's pretty remarkable. Also, if you wish, you can import DXF layout files from Templot and the like and than add your buildings and, depending on your artistic abilities, the scenery. The modelling with the track "laid" is very handy for checking access and so on - well worth the learning curve.

Cheers Richard

Templot really should be there I reckon. I believe Peco templates are available, and the ability to "lay" flexi track and see what it looks like is well worth the 40 odd quid alone. 'Course, when you've had a play and designed that spectacular junction it's only a small step to getting out the hacksaw and files..... ;-)

Definately worth considereing, if only for a long term tool.

Cheers Richard (no connection with Templot, just a very happy bunny)

Here is another to add to the list. I'm only just starting out so I have nothing to compare it with.

That one looks quite good as well. There are eleven packages now listed. I've added a couple more from Byron's page.

So now it's a case of trying to compare apples and oranges :)

One thing I will say is that they seem quite responsive to requests for help and suggestions for improvements.

It uses ONLY Hornby 00 track piece items but, as I said, it's ok for rough planning.

I think (you'd better check) that the early version of the software is available as a free download, but that VR2 (Virtual Railway 2) costs money.

Well, I hope the fragment I posted was useful and comprehensible enough to you. That's got the details of the three sizes of points (perhaps I should look up for you what the Peco part numbers are), and the double slip which I'm pretty sure is the same shape as the single slip. If not I can explain my notation.